Teaching Leadership

How do we teach leadership? It is an attribute that is desirable in our society, but not one that is easily taught. Our schools both public and private often promote developing the whole child in mind, body and spirit but while that is an easy motto it is a difficult task. Each institution has a varied curriculum and pedagogy but in teaching leadership they can typically be caste into a few simple systems.

Creating 'Leadership Opportunities'
Many schools promote opportunities for leadership through varied activities and classes. These traditionally include roles in school government, athletic captains, and club leaders. The individual roles may vary from administrative to management to the capacity of true leadership. The challenge in creating 'leadership opportunities' is that they are often based on individual interest, ability and popularity. There are few tests of real leadership, but instead chances to practice at managing, negotiating and administering varied organizations. Important lessons indeed, but not a lesson in leading. In the few occasions where real leadership is required it is often coached and subsedized by the adults advising the program. At an individual level this coaching can be invaluable, but it is often uneven across a whole team or class. In the thousands of opportunities that exist only a handful will create leaders.

Defined Leadership Courses
For some schools there are actual 'leadership training courses'. Many of these are based on military and corporate programs intended to train new adult leaders. They include specific readings and lectures about famed leaders facing tough decisions. Some courses includes discussions of strategy, psychology and politics to define the environment and the implications of each decision. These courses give individual students the opportunity to better define leadership analytically and to see more of the challenges and complexities that true leaders face. These programs are often very effective at teaching students the qualities of a leader, but not necessarily in creating leaders. While individuals may walk away from a program 'book smart' they usually don't get the opportunity to test or practice the new skills they have read about. Again a few true leaders may emerge from these courses but they are the exception, rarely the rule.

Trials and Errors
In some schools and more specifically in programs like the boy scouts or girl scouts there are opportunities where true leadership is expected and required. Similar to the military individuals are placed in a position to make difficult decisions that impact their peers and have real consequences. These programs can be truly effective at developing leadership skills, but face a high risk when mistakes are made. Individuals and particularly children are often unprepared for the consequences of their mistakes when they are in true leadership positions. When the safety net is taken away true leaders may emerge, but those who fail pay a steeper price.

So what are schools to do? As a society we need strong leaders, men and women who are willing to make tough decisions, lead their peers and face the real consequences. Do we book teach everyone about the skills required and hope that they will each find individual opportunities to develop those skills in life, or do we create leadership tests with real consequences for those who fail? Not everyone is expected to be a leader, but we need to cultivate those who will pick up the mantel in the next generation.

Specifically in our public schools, we need to cultivate attributes and qualities that are necessary for the next generation. These qualities do not only include leadership, but in examining how we learn individual traits I suspect we will find systems to teach the varied qualities we expect of our youth. Safe opportunities, formal courses and true trials when used in tandom and built into a real system can be a powerful way to develop skills and traits including leadership.

Design Math 101 - A formula for good educational design

As simple as it sounds I have never seen or heard of a standard formula for the design of learning spaces. Now while design is not as simple as plugging in integers to create a definitive answer there is certainly a range of reasonable values to expect. As a designer, but not a mathematician I offer a basic formula that I have found valuable in my experience designing schools:

(L1 x (Cr+Pg)) x Ext = GD

L1 = The Learner. The first and most important element of any learning space is the individual or group that is going to learn in that space. It is important to understand both the quantitative and qualitative requirements of the learner. How old is the student? What is his or her past experiences? What are their capabilities? What are their limitations?

Cr = Curriculum. The curriculum is the subject matter that must be taught. It is the knowledge that the learner is expected to gain within the space where they learn. Curriculum may include both formal curriculum (the history of the civil war) and informal curriculum (the basic strategies of debate). It may also be a part of a larger curriculum (American History Part I of III). These are all important data points in understanding the design of a learning space.

Pg = Pedagogy. Pedagogy is the method of delivering knowledge. Is it taught by an individual teacher in a lecture, or through a series of small group discussions? Does the class require a hands on lab or is the knowledge delivered through a video? The delivery method is as important as the lesson that will be taught. For instance if you are teaching someone to change the oil in a car they could learn by listening to someone describe the process, watching a video that shows the process or participating in doing the process on an actual automobile. In each case the curriculum is the same (learning to change the oil), but the pedagogy is completely different and its implications on space are exponetially different.

Ext = External Factors. Learning spaces are influenced by a wide range of external factors. These can range from the adjacencies of distractions like highways or trains to the time of day that the class may be taught. External Factors create positive and negative pressures on specific design issues like lighting, acoustics or security. Each design must address these issues or the overall formula will fall apart.

GD = Good Design. This is the answer to the formula. At a basic level did the learner gain the knowledge they were expected to within the space? Clearly the classroom does not take the place of the teacher, but does it enhance or detract from the learning experience. In designing places for learning we need to understand all of these elements. Without knowing the requirements of the learner, the curriculum, the pedagogy or the external factors that influence them all we can not hope to create great schools, classrooms or learning spaces of the future.

Clearly this formula is the basic version of a far more complicated process. Schools are designed for many people, typically not individuals and classrooms must often accommodate many different subjects and teaching styles. We need to recognize that there are many answers to the question of what is 'good design', but we should also take note of the simple equations that may help define that answer.